The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1887-11-24
nRlyEMGLLs.


The Recent Declslon of the United
hoade Or an Obnoxious System
of ExtortIon--how Green OVER
reached iiimseif.
There il rejoicing among the farmers 81
the land, snys the Chicago Herald. at any
rate rejoicing among that portion Of the
agricultural community which has been
afflicted by the cfamor OF ~"driye.welp'
tends. Nelson W. Green, the alleged in.
ventor OF the device, obtained his patent
Jan. IL 1858, which wal rsissusd
May 8 1871, upon an amended
claim. Green was not slow in utilizing
his patent. Hs not only sold stats. but
prices. which the purchasers Of these pat
ent rights could well afford to pay. because
the ruling price to be paid by a farmer for
u we'll sunk by the simple contrivancs
was $40 for q well OF a diameter Of one
and q quarter inches. There vas q slid.
ing, or rather rising. scale, governed by the
diameter and depth OF the well, the power
by which it was to be operated and the
yield OF water per minute, until in some
instances a price OF $500 was reached.
This amount exceeded by far the price for
an artesian well Of the same capacity, and
was ten old that OF the ordinary stone
we'll. The price OF $40 Tor the small.sized
well, while not much in itself, was by far
too much for the service rem.
dered. No farmer would have paid it had
he not been forced to by q combination OF
the Observation-Disclosures with the drivers
The usual proceeding was that the ''driv-
ers" would put in the well for a moderate
amount, and suhse quently the owner OF
the right would come along and claim his
royalty, which be WAS in every case able
to collect, because he was backed up by
numerous court dccisions.t All these
decisions are now worthless, since
the supreme court 81 The United
patent invalid. This last decision was
reached on the ground that the invention
was used in public at Cortland by others
than Green more than, two years before the
application for q patent was made-a fact
which, under thelaw, is fatalto the patents
validity.
Had the patentee and the men to whom
he sold his rights been less grasping they
the time the patent lasted, but their ava.
rice caused the collapse. The magnitude Of
the case wifi be understood when it is stat
ed that the number Of drive wells in the
country reaches nearly o million, about
se~venty.fve thousand being in the
State Of New York. The patentees in
Minnesota were worse than those OF any
other state. Quite recently they sent cir
culars to owners OF driven wells that in
fringers on the Green patent must pay SO
on a certain date. Those who did MT
comply with this cool demand were noti.
fed that they must pay $36.50-$3O MS
the figure reached by trebling the dam
ages, Sc court costs and SO cents for post
age. @
Former decisions. even one included by
the highest tribunal, proved to be in favor
Of the patentee. The patent has been the
subject OF extensive litigation. It was first
held valid by Judge Benedict. in 1876, in
the leading case OF Andrews against Carman.
This decision was followed by nine Others,
rendered by Judges Dillon, Nelson, Ores.
ham, ~Blatchford, Nixon. Wheeler, Nc
Creary and Shipman. In two OF the recent
cases-Andrews against Cone and Andrews
against Hovey-the patent WINS for the
first time held invalid by judges Love,
Shiras and Nelson, Of the courts below, on
the same grounds given by. the United
Hovey case. The later decision. OF
course, overrides the one in the IA
nous Games Andrews case OF
the October term, 1886. In che Games
case no such testimony as in the. Hovey
and Cone cascs was introduced. The fact
that the invention had been in public use,
with the knowledge and consent Of Green.
iOT mOTO tHdu tWO JcdEb pIlOT 70 tl6 III.
ing OF his application, rendered the patent
invalid. OF course, this decision non
suits all claims now pending in the courts
all over the land against alleged infringers
OF the patent. The grasping disposition Of
the patentees and the continuous litigations
combined to make the Green patent more
odious than any other, but the task Of
fighting it was tremendous It was finally
accomplished by a comparatively unknown
q u v.r-Io1 20 Hoeof In1as,on1onco Inuyo-
worked perhaps two hundred days on the
case. At least 500, 600 has been spent
by both parties to the litigation just ended.
Those who have paid the exacting royalty
have, OF course, no means OF recovery,
unless they can prove fraud or false repre-
tations.